Some title, huh? While it might seem too eclectic a mix of subjects to bridge, just watch me: I'm gonna bridge 'em!For this update, we'll travel back in time, back forward in time, across the Continental U.S., over the pond to Dublin, back across the pond, back across the North American Continent to San Francisco and Los Angeles with a few side trips to other parts of the Great American West!
I read a post the other day on P. Salisbury's informative blog, Fotowired. Salisbury is an Irish, Dublin-based, photographer, writer and teacher. (Apparently, in that order since that's the order he lists his vocations on Twitter.) No additional info on Salisbury's drinking habits or possible affinity for spuds, the color green, and leprechauns, or whether he's a fan of Notre Dame football. (The dude is Irish, after all.) Anyway, Salisbury's post, which is excerpted from Ansel Adams' autobiography, is a good read as well as an instructive read. CLICK HERE to go directly to Salisbury's Ansel Adams post.
It seems, besides being an iconic photographer, Ansel Adams was also something of a prognosticator. (Whether he knew it or not.) In the excerpt, the master's words can be as easily applied to today's new generation of digital photographers as they could to film shooters back in the day. ( D'uh. Salisbury's update's instructive intent, no doubt.)
Here's an example--
Some guy, in 1984, speaking with Adams and questioning the modern relevancy of Adams' techniques: "I look around me and see hundreds of photographers relying on camera electronics or simply exposing with random repetition, bracketing exposures to cover mistakes. If this seems to be the modern approach, do you feel your system continues to be relevant?"
Adams responding to the guy: "Being trained in music, I was obliged to know my notes, to practice continuously so that the notes, phrase shapes, and dynamics would be securely established in my mind. My playing, therefore, was expressly intuitive, based on a thorough experience with the facts and structure of the scores."
My simple translation: Study and learn the old school basics. Integrate those rules and basics into your photography. Practice makes perfect. Then go shoot outside the box and declare yourself an artist.
Adams goes on to talk about the need to make the technical aspects of the photographer's craft "intuitive." (Something I've ranted on before.) Personally, I like to think of it as practicing the craft and technical stuff until it becomes automatic, much like the theme of that popular golf video of a number of years ago, "Automatic Golf."
In fact, when it comes to pretty girl shooting, until much of the tech and craft stuff becomes intuitive, or automatic, you'll be spending far too much time focused on those things rather than visualizing the shot, composing the shot and, perhaps most importantly, gaining rapport and interacting with the model. (Which, if truth be known, are the things you should be spending most of your time doing while shooting glamour photography. Especially that last part about rapport and interaction.)
Let's see if I covered all those things in my title: Ansel Adams? Check. Digital photography? Check. Some Irish guy? Salisbury... check. Pretty girl shooting? Me, this blog, the pic at the top, check!
As for the time travel, distance travel, and the various places I mentioned earlier on in this update? Well, you're all smart people. You can figure that out. Check!
The pretty girl at the top is Rebecca from a shoot last year. She's purdy, no? I wonder if Mr. Adams ever shot any pretty girl pics? You know, on the QT... near Half-Dome.
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